Temple Volleyball Holds on For a Win Over La Salle in the "Battle for Broad Street"

PHILADELPHIA - It wasn't as easy at it looked like it would be, but the Temple volleyball team recovered from a setback and eventually took out La Salle, 3-2, by scores of 25-18, 25-15, 16-25, 14-25 and 15-7. Elyse Burkert, Gabriella Matautia, Collin Wallace and Tiffany Connatser all recorded double-doubles for Temple in the win, which improves the Owls to 7-16 overall and 3-7 in the Atlantic 10.

Temple Volleyball Holds on For a Win Over La Salle in the "Battle for Broad Street"

Temple Athletics

PHILADELPHIA - It wasn't as easy at it looked like it would be, but the Temple volleyball team recovered from a setback and eventually took out La Salle, 3-2, by scores of 25-18, 25-15, 16-25, 14-25 and 15-7. Elyse Burkert, Gabriella Matautia, Collin Wallace and Tiffany Connatser all recorded double-doubles for Temple in the win, which improves the Owls to 7-16 overall and 3-7 in the Atlantic 10.

Burkert led all players with 20 kills while also recording 10 digs, Matautia knocked down 14 kills to go with 12 digs, Wallace tallied 10 kills along with 16 digs and Connatser added 15 digs to her match-high 43 assists. Chelsea Tupuola led Temple with 20 digs.

La Salle (5-22, 1-9) was led by Jacquelyn Mitrovich with 15 kills and Samantha Tulskie with a double-double of 13 kills and a match-high 24 digs.

After six early ties and three lead changes in the first set, Temple began to take control and cruised from there. The teams were tied at 13-13 before a 4-1 Temple run began to widen the gap, and the Owls later used another 4-1 run to surge ahead at the end of the set. Burkert led all players with six kills in the set as Temple out-hit La Salle, .186 to .086.

The Owls never trailed in the second set and capitalized on La Salle errors, as the Explorers committed 10 attack errors compared to just two for Temple. Burkert was impressive once again with five kills and just one error, while Wallace knocked down three kills with no errors. Matautia served out five straight points near the end of the set as Temple went on to take a 2-0 lead for the match.

The tide turned in the third set as Temple unfortunately matched its 10 kills with 10 attack errors while La Salle began to gain confidence. The teams were tied at 14-14 before the Explorers ran away with the set to stay in the match. The fourth set saw La Salle record 13 kills with zero errors, and hold a lead the entire way.

Whatever had been plaguing the Owls did not show up in the fifth and final set as Temple's seven kills with zero errors helped the Owls jump out to a 9-1 lead and never look back.

Temple returns to action for the final game of a four-match homestand on Sunday, Oct. 30 at 1:00 p.m. vs. Saint Louis.

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